I have been on EBay for a long while and am amazed at Sellers who put Best Offer, then only counter offer .25Cents off.
I normally start with 60% of price then wait for counteroffer.
You can generally tell if Seller wants to sell or wants top dollar for item
You normally settle for fair going price, which includes shipping.
A while back USPS upped shipping on fishing rod to so high they are not worth selling.

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I normally start with 60% of price then wait for counteroffer.

Wouldn't even get a counteroffer from me if I was the seller. I'd assume you were a tire kicker and just decline it.

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Originally posted by tatortodd:

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I normally start with 60% of price then wait for counteroffer.

Wouldn't even get a counteroffer from me if I was the seller. I'd assume you were a tire kicker and just decline it.

Same here. My selling prices are always fair. If someone lowballs me at 60% of my selling price, they'll never get a response from me.

60%? Me three in the no response club…

I bet there is a guy on an Ebay forum bitching about people low balling him.

I dont even bother with the auctions or best offers. If it says buy now and the cost is reasonable (lots gouge you on shipping) I jump. Otherwise, I pass.

Standard practice at my old music store was that I had carte blanche leeway to give up to 10% off the price tag on anything. I was asked not to just give that, but I could do so without running it by the owner. We'd typically go to 15-20% at the absolute most, but I was to offer swag instead and fight over every cent it felt reasonable to do so.

I was also told after a few months to start laughing at every offer that wasn't the dollar amount on the tag. "I don't care if it's a dollar less than the asking price, I want you to laugh in their face and say 'I can't do that, I'll get fired!' and you need to believe in your soul that will happen if you keep asking me if we can take less on this stuff." It felt really weird the first few times, but sonofabitch if it didn't work! Weeds out tire kickers real fast. If all I could do through a website was counter-offer, the equivalent of laughing in your face at your offer would be to offer you twenty five cents off my price. If that's where you quit, then I guess we ain't dealing.

We had a dude come in the store one day who offered half what we had on the tag for this used Les Paul one day. He was dealing with the owner on this one. His kid had come in the store and played it a few times and it was clear he wanted it and the old man said "I'll come down there and get you a deal on it." Boss told him "we're not even on the same planet with that offer, if you're going to waste my time like that, get out of my store." I thought for sure I was going to have to call the cops for all of a minute. There was yelling, and insults, and somehow, ten minutes later while they were still yelling and red-faced, my old boss was writing the guy a sales ticket and taking a handful of hundreds. There was a handshake and the guy left with the guitar in a gig bag, half-steaming. My boss has been selling guitars and gear since the early 70's and said "yeah, that's more how it used to be. That way of haggling hasn't been in vogue for probably fifty years, but it is one way of doing the dance."

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Originally posted by 12131:

Same here. My selling prices are always fair. If someone lowballs me at 60% of my selling price, they'll never get a response from me.

I assume he's just talking about Ebay's "make an offer" feature, not regular sales. If you felt your price was fair/firm, you wouldn't use it.

I have seen what he's referring to. Price is a high at $75, offer $55 which is closer to market but still high, they counter with $73.00

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Originally posted by 911Boss:
60%? Me three in the no response club…

Me four. I do OBO and somebody low-balls me like that, I'd just laugh and bin it.

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Originally posted by cas:
I assume he's just talking about Ebay's "make an offer" feature, not regular sales. If you felt your price was fair/firm, you wouldn't use it.

Not necessarily.

eBay sometimes incentivizes sellers to use the Make an Offer feature in auctions.

Back when I occasionally sold stuff on eBay in the 2000s, they'd regularly run specials for sellers along the lines of "50 Free Make an Offer Listings", or the like.

Therefore, someone who normally wouldn't include Make an Offer because they think their price is fair and firm might end up doing so just to save on listing fees, but in reality they're not willing to entertain offers.

I haven't sold on eBay in a while, so I'm not entirely sure if that's still the case. But it's a potential explanation of why someone could include Make an Offer even when they don't plan on budging from their price.

Don't want an offer ... don't say make offer .

Turning your nose up and not responding because it is too low is just plain arrogant.

^^^Unless the offer was so low as to be insulting, and not worthy of a response. I'd reserve my efforts for 'serious buyers' only!

eBay allows sellers to set minimums for the make offer feature that will auto decline below a set amount. Use that if you are going to get offended by low balls so you don't even need to see or deal with them.

I learn so much on this board. Thanks for laying all of that out there.

shipping is prorated or charged. almost literally by the inch

there are several steps ,

base,
+ over x many inches
then over the next

etc etc


and over 48 really blows,
and ebay has a way of over charging for shipping even on small first class stuff,



re the low ball offers, I have 2 reponses, ( and I sell a lot on ebay)
if you want to offer a down payment, please don't be offended if I don't respond,

and I will reply (2nd) if the response is close, with a counter offer,

haggling is still alive and well, and assholes are too

FWIW,
my biggest issue is not the haggle, or offers, it is the folks that buy and don't read the description or look at the pics,

and then ask for a return cause the listing had an error,,
nope, the listing was correct, you are just a dumbass that did not look at the pics, or read the description,,,,


fukkers

I think my point was missed, I pay a fair price when item is marked reasonable.
My point why say best offer?
The whole idea is to get your asking price!
When you post, if the lowest price is amount stated, why would you get upset when someone goes lower.
Myself I send an email and ask what is your lowest price.
Have had great results doing it that way.
Enough about the Mouse!!!!!!!! (Out for Justice Richie quote)